A Moment's Rest
by Jordanna Morgan
Summary: A brief respite after the cave rescue at Yashiro Station.


**Title:** A Moment's Rest  
**Author:** Jordanna Morgan  
**Archive Rights:** Please request the author's consent.  
**Rating/Warnings:** Mild PG for blood.  
**Characters:** Ikoma and Takumi.  
**Setting:** During episode six.  
**Summary:** A brief respite after the cave rescue at Yashiro Station.  
**Disclaimer:** They belong to Kabaneri Committee and other relevant parties. I'm just playing with them.  
**Notes:** Written for the prompts of "Cave" at Fan Flashworks, and "That Incident in Detail" at Genprompt Bingo.

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A Moment's Rest

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Freshly scrubbed clean of half-dried blood, Ikoma splashed his face with water. The motion stirred twinges in his arms and chest, making him wince. At least _most_ of the blood was from the Kabane he had killed in the cave, rather than his own healing wounds; but still, he felt like a hundred miles of bad tracks.

_Need to eat_, he admitted to himself grimly. _But I can't rest yet. Time is running out. There's still so much to do if we're going to get out of Yashiro Station alive… and I have to make up for failing to get things right the first time._

Just as he was drawing his red cloak over his shoulders, there was a knock outside the small compartment where he had retreated to wash. He opened the hatch to find Takumi standing there.

"Hey." With a casual bluntness, Takumi shouldered himself through the hatchway—in the process bowling Ikoma back into the compartment as well. There the steamsmith faced the Kabaneri, smiling somberly as he held up a bamboo tube. "I figured you could probably use this."

Ikoma's eyes widened. "Takumi…!"

"Come on. After what they say you did in that cave, you've _gotta_ be hungry. You're not gonna help anybody now if you pass out. Miss Ayame and the others are still figuring out a new plan—so just give yourself a minute, okay?"

Pale cheeks pinkening, Ikoma surrendered. With a murmured thanks he accepted the tube, pulling open its stopper and raising it to take a sip.

Still warm, the blood tasted and _felt_ like Takumi, in that strange way he couldn't explain. He squeezed his eyes shut and drank deeply; for once not afraid to openly savor it, to show his appreciation to the giver of the precious gift that he didn't, _couldn't_ deserve. Usually he wasn't comfortable eating in front of humans… but with his best friend, maybe it was alright.

He needed it more than he'd realized. Even as it went down, he already felt better—and he knew just how lucky he was to be tasting another meal at all.

It frightened him then to wonder what would have happened if the _Kotetsujo_ hadn't returned for the Kabaneri. Mumei had no answer for his question of their fate if they couldn't obtain blood. Would they have starved to death… or something worse? Would they eventually have degenerated into mindless walking husks like the Kabane, roaming the deserted wreckage of the station in a futile search for prey, until at last they too were absorbed into the grotesque mass of the fused colony?

A shiver passed through him at the thought, and he sternly shook it out of his head.

But even so…

"Is what Sukari said really true?" he muttered on impulse, staring down at the tube clutched tight in his hand. "Was picking up the cannon the only reason the _Kotetsujo_ came back?"

Leaning against the bulkhead with folded arms, Takumi stiffened almost imperceptibly; but the darkening of his eyes was less subtle.

"Well, a couple of the Elders might still have been all for _abandoning_ you… but trust me, nobody else was. Not even Sukari. He may talk tough, but he's the one who told us about the cannon. I'm sure he was also thinking of you and Mumei when he brought it up—and Miss Ayame jumped on it as a chance to buy time for a search too. She shut down the Elders so fast they didn't know what hit 'em. And you know what? Even Kurusu was the first volunteer to go down into that cave after you." Takumi's firm expression twisted into a grin. "So don't you worry about being left behind again. I _said_ we'd be waiting for you, didn't I?"

The chill inside Ikoma warmed then, and he smiled.

"Yeah."

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_2019 Jordanna Morgan_


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